Another busy few days of college action and some more excellence shown by Vancouver Whitecaps Residency graduates and PDL players in NCAA and CIS action.

Lots of goals from the guys and lots to enjoy from BC’s big three – SFU, UBC and UVIC – as well.

SFU – NCAA II

The number one ranked Simon Fraser Clan opened their GNAC season on the road with a 2-1 win over Montana University State Billings. While the Canadian university dominated play in the first half, including shots on the goal, it was the home team that took the lead in the half with a goal in the 20th minute.

The visitors got back into the match around the hour mark, when German Alexander Kleefeldt set up his fellow countryman Chris Bargholz for the tying goal. Less than 15 minutes later SFU got the winner when Swedish transfer Johannes Hallman picked up his first of the year.

Two days later the Clan duplicated the result as they continued their road trip and defeated Northwest Nazarene 2-1. Similar to Thursday it was the home team that got on the board first when the Crusaders opened the scoring in the 11th minute. SFU had a chance to pull even just before the half but Lucas Ferritto’s penalty kick was saved by the keeper.

It didn’t take them long to pull even after the break as Johannes Hallman scored his second in as many games two minutes into the second half. They completed the comeback when keeper Brendan Watson sent a goalkick directly to Carlo Basso who controlled the ball and fired it in for the winner.

The Clan will return home this week where they will face South Dakota School of Mines on Thursday and University of Mary on Saturday with both games starting at 7.30pm.

CIS

The weekend started with some revenge for UBC as they beat Fraser Valley, the team that ended their undefeated streak, by a score of 3-0. After some key saves by Chris Beck, who earned the cleansheet, the Thunderbirds opened the scoring after the half hour mark when Milad Mehrabi cut inside and unleashed a strike from 22 yards out.

Ten minutes later former Caps PDL player Reynold Stewart sent in Navid Mashinchi and the Residency graduate was able to chip the keeper for the two goal advantage. UBC was able to put away the game in the first five minutes of the second half when Sean Einarsson converted a header off a Harry Lakhan corner.

Across the Georgia Straight the Victoria Vikes extended their winning streak to four games as they defeated Trinity Western by a score of 4-0. It took twenty minutes for Victoria to open the scoring when Caps PDL standout Cam Hundal made a long run into the box and cut it back to the middle where Cam Stokes was able to beat the keeper.

Just over ten minutes later the Vikes increased their lead when Stokes picked up his brace as he took advantage of a free kick that squeezed through the wall. Two second half goals by Kurt McAuley and Gavin Barrett would finish the scoring while Elliot Mitrou would claim the cleansheet.

The next day UBC travelled to the island to take on Victoria in a showdown for the Canada West Pacific division lead. It would be two quick goals three minutes apart that would be enough for the T-Birds as they finished on top 2-1.

The visitors opened the scoring in the third minute when a Reynold Stewart free kick would be converted by the head of Caps Residency graduate Paul Clerc. A few minutes later Clerc scored his second on an almost identical play except this time he guided the ball in with his foot. Clerc is having some year, with these being his fourth and fifth of the year so far.

Just before the half Cam Hundal had a chance to bring the Vikes within one from the penalty spot but Ante Boskovic came up big with a diving stop to keep UBC up by two at the half. Boskovic lost his cleansheet in second half injury time when Gavin Barret scored on a header. You can see highlights of the game below.

With the win UBC (5-0-1) takes over sole possession of the top spot in the Canada West Pacific Division while UVic (4-0-2) drops to second. The Vikes will have next week off while the T-Birds are at home to the University of Saskatchewan on Friday and the University of Alberta on Saturday.

CAPS IN COLLEGE – NCAA I

Ben McKendry started and played 90 minutes in both games for New Mexico Lobos, who lost 1-0 to Drake on Friday but rebounded to defeat Santa Barbara 1-0 on Monday. The winning goal came with 12 seconds of the game remaining, silencing the majority of the 3,147 fans present. Although McKendry does not get an official assist on the whole it was his play and run up the wing that set up the pass for the winner.

AFTN was at the game and Michael will have an interview with Ben for the site and/or the podcast in the coming days about his time in NCAA so far and how the Caps have been keeping in touch, so watch out for that soon.

After scoring two, including the winner, in Tuesday’s 3-2 OT win over Davidson, Brody Huitema scored his third goal in the week but it wasn’t enough as Duke lost 2-1 to Syracuse. He took a pass and then unleashed a shot from outside the box that found space just beneath the bar and over the keeper’s hands (HIGHLIGHTS).

It looked like Wes Cain had scored against Ohio St. but it was deemed offside as Wright St. drew 0-0 and then on Friday the winger came on as a sub in a 2-1 loss to Northern Kentucky.

North Carolina Wilmington were unable to score in a 2-0 loss to UNCG but Sean Melvin made three big saves. Right back Quinton Duncan subbed on for 20 minutes as University of Tulsa beat Valparaiso by a score of 4-0. In Kentucky, Callum Irving got very little support in his only start of the weekend as his team lost 3-1 to Dartmouth.

On Thursday Declan Rodrigeuz started, played 90 minutes and scored the winner for the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in a 1-0 win over Western Illinois (which you can enjoy below). He came back three days later as he started once again and played the full match in a 2-0 win over Western Michigan.